


The Chips Are Down

by LunarLullabies



Category: Hadestown - Mitchell
Genre: Desperation, Starvation, but we know how this story goes, eurydice is trying her best
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-20 14:08:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19378273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunarLullabies/pseuds/LunarLullabies
Summary: They're starving.  Eurydice says she can handle it out there, but when the cold and doubt comes in, and desperation takes over, she remembers the ticket she has in her pocket.~Or, a slightly re-imagined version of Eurydice's decision to go to the Underworld.





	1. Chapter 1

“I’ll be okay.  Don’t worry.”

 

Eurydice shrugged on her coat, noticing a tug on the back.

 

“You shouldn’t be the one to go out there.” 

 

Orpheus moved his hand to hers.  “Don’t go out there.”

 

“We’re starving!”  
  


“That’s why you should stay.  I’m stronger, and the wind-”

 

“I’m used to the wind.  Besides, you need to stay here and finish writing.  Your song will make everything better.”

 

“Eurydice-”

 

“Stay,”  she pulled her bag over her shoulder.  “You’ll help everyone once your song is done.  Let me help us. We need food.”

 

Orpheus took a breath and smiled.  He knew better than to argue. She was right, after all.  They were starving, but if he could make everything better with his song, he needed to finish it.  Eurydice was just doing her part.

 

“Be safe.”  He squeezed her hand.

 

“I will.” She squeezed back.

 

Orpheus smiled.  “I love you.”

 

“Save it for when I get back.”  She smiled, and she felt his lips against her own.  She let his warmth envelope her, the final barrier against the cold.  At last, she turned to the door and stepped outside.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Orpheus was right, the wind was biting.  It wasn’t anything she couldn’t manage, but she had never gone out as hungry as she was.  

 

Eurydice walked for hours.  Every step she could feel herself getting more tired, weaker.  It was like she could hear voices, her own fears and doubts and worries speaking to her.

 

_ “What if there isn’t any food?”  _

The wind pulled at her bag and coat, ripping them off her body as the chill froze her bones.

 

_ “Help yourself, at least enough to get back.  Orpheus will know what to do.” _

 

Another hunger pang sent her to the ground.  She had never been so hungry in her life. Eurydice laid on the ground, holding her stomach as her own mind mocked her.  She could remember a story, one a man named Hermes had told her. A railroad to the underworld, where gods - Persephone, who was so needed in the world above, who Orpheus was hoping to get to help - lived with food, jobs, and safety.

 

_ How does it feel?  It must be so nice. _

 

Eurydice buried her face into her body, trying to cling to whatever warmth she could find.  She shoved her hands into her pockets, feeling the small paper tucked away inside.

 

A ticket.  A man had given it to her, well dressed with a deep voice.  She heard him, him and all the other voices.

 

_ “What are you gonna do?” _


	3. Chapter 3

Eurydice doubled over, starving, weak, exhausted, cold.  Her memory of Orpheus - of his kiss - was the only thing keeping her warm, but her memory faded as the hours passed.  She grasped the ticket life a lifeline which, maybe it was.  

 

She felt herself begin to cry.  She thought she had been getting closer to home, closer to him, but it was impossible to know anymore.  If she closed her eyes, she thought she could hear him singing. His song, the song that would fix everything.  

_ So hungry. _

Eurydice laid her head down. 

_ Orpheus, please.  Come find me. Maybe he can’t, not anymore.  I’m already gone. _

She closed her eyes, and she stopped crying.  She thought of the food, of the warmth. She would get what she needed, be free, and return to him when his song was finished.  Eurydice let her breathing slow to a stop with a final word.

“Orpheus.”

 

She didn’t notice man in the grey suit beside her, who witnessed the whole thing.  She didn’t know it was him, but she could swear she heard a train in the distance.


End file.
